Microsoft and AOL agree to agree on anti-spoofing Sender-ID technology

AOL is chums again with buddy Microsoft and is now supporting a new version of Redmond's controversial Sender ID anti-spoofing technology. The fracas blew up as a working group under the auspices of IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) failed to agree on a framework to implement Sender ID. Microsoft had submitted its PRA (purported recent address) algorithm to Sender ID, which was encumbered by licensing restrictions and unspecified patent and intellectual property claims and would mean that Sender ID was not backwards-compatible with existing SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records that are used in today's anti-spoofing efforts. ...more

EU pushes for public funding for broadband in the wilds

In a speech today at the eEurope Workshop on broadband regional and local initiatives, Erkki Liikanen, commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society, stressed that public sector intervention has an important role to play in getting broadband access to the more remote areas of the EU. 'Broadband access is an essential component of the European strategy for growth. And this is why I expect member states and regions to do their utmost to ensure widespread availability of broadband infrastructure,' he said. ...more

And also today (17-Apr-2001), for the record...

Here, in brief, are some of the day's other stories. Intel doubles DSP speeds Intel has demonstrated what it claims to be the world's fastest digital signal processor (DSP) architecture for wireless handheld devices. Incorporating DSP and micro controller functions on a single chip, the Intel Micro Signal Architecture (MSA) can run at speeds of up to 400 MHz, which is more than twice as fast as other DSPs for wireless handheld devices, the company asserts. ...more

IBM helped Hitler organise holocaust says book

IBM developed the technology that allowed the final solution to happen on the scale it did, a new book alleges. IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation by Edwin Black says that IBM supplied pre-computer card-sorting systems, called Hollerith machines, to organise the identification and persecution of Jews and other groups across Europe. Although it was already known that IBM had supplied the machines - Black started his investigation after seeing one in a Holocaust museum - what wasn't known was the extent to which IBM realised what they were being used for. ...more

Windows Vista for business review: first look

Windows Vista is finally here, at least for businesses. PC Pro contributing editor, Jon Honeyball, gives his verdict on the the new OS, and its likely benefits - and otherwise. Look out for his full verdict in next month's issue, out on sale Thursday the 14th of December. ...more